Young adults born very prematurely may be at higher risk of orofacial pain and dental anxiety and may be more likely to need orthodontics, according to a recently published news article from Malmö University in Sweden.
Additionally, their oral hygiene habits may be suboptimal than those of their nonprematurely born peers.
"The results show that it is important for clinical staff and parents to be attentive to the oral health of these young people. One idea might be for dental care providers to start routinely asking their young patients if they were born prematurely,” Liselotte Paulsson, of the university, wrote in the article.
To analyze differences between the oral and general health of adolescents born prematurely versus those born full term, data from the Express (National Extremely Preterm Infants in Sweden Study) trial, which comprised 350 young adults ages 13 to 18, was analyzed.
Researchers learned that 1 in 4 former preemies experienced orofacial pain once a week or more often. By comparison, 1 in 8 adolescents in the control group reported similar pain and frequency.
Additionally, boys born prematurely were more likely to have had or needed to be scheduled for orthodontic treatment, whereas there was no significant difference between girls born prematurely or full term. This may be because preemies were slightly behind in terms of jaw and bite development.
Two other findings emerged from the analysis as well, including that prematurely born adolescents were less likely to brush their teeth in the evenings compared to non-preemie teens. There was no apparent explanation accounting for the differences, according to the article.
Also, preemies were more likely to report feeling anxious about visiting the dentist.
“This was done to gain more knowledge about what support this group needs to have good oral health later in life,” Susanne Brogårdh-Roth, an associate professor at the university, said in the article.
